


the risk i'll always take

by theafterimages



Category: GOT7
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5557085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theafterimages/pseuds/theafterimages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bambam gets stood up, and it’s almost a disaster—until his evening takes an unexpected turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the risk i'll always take

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lotusk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lotusk/gifts).



> Thank you to S for betaing!

_are u ok?????_ Yugyeom texts. Again. He’s been using steadily more punctuation as time’s gone by. It almost makes Bambam smile.

_im fine_. 

He _is_ , he tells himself. At least now that Yugyeom’s texting him it looks like Bambam’s talking to his date, not like he’s just been stood up without a word of explanation.

_need me to come get u???????_

_no its ok_. He’ll give it a few more minutes. He’s been looking forward to eating here all week, and besides, he’s not going to admit defeat just yet.

_k then do u need me to go find him??????_ Yugyeom even adds both their shares of emojis, which is nice because for once Bambam is too dispirited to use any at all.

_no its ok! its just some guy i met online ffs_. Bambam sighs. The guy had had a nice dick, too. He should have known it was all too good to be true.

_so???? ill find him!!!!!_

Yugyeom would be great boyfriend material, Bambam reflects. Too bad about the part where he’s straight, not to mention how he and Bambam have basically thought of each other as honorary brothers for years.

_mb he thought im ugly_. He had typed it as a joke—well, mostly. He checks his reflection quickly in his mirror app, frowning. His date hadn’t seen him and decided to walk away, right? Bambam had changed his outfit five times before he left, but he knows this button-down looks good on him, and he’s fixed his hair so many times…

_NO WAY_ , is Yugyeom’s immediate response. _thought u were TOO hot_. 

Bambam sighs. It’s fine, he tells himself firmly, staring fixedly at his half-empty soda—his second—and biting at the inside of his threatening to quiver lower lip. There’s no law against sitting in a restaurant by himself. No one needs to know he’s been stood up. He can always ask Yugyeom to help him fake a phone call, then come up with some lie to breezily tell the increasingly concerned looking waitress and make his exit. Bambam can say the guy was working late. Or his phone died. Or he got sick suddenly, or his car’s not working, or-

“Sorry, I’m late, babe!” Bambam hears out of nowhere. His head snaps up, and he stares as some guy he’s never seen before slides into the seat across from him and gives Bambam’s hand a quick squeeze. “They made me stay late to finish this project, and my phone died so I couldn’t even text-”

“Who-” Bambam begins.

“Just play along,” the guy whispers, then raises his voice again. “Get whatever you want, okay? I’ll pay for it.” Bambam’s eyes dart to the expensive watch around the stranger’s wrist. His clothes may look like he picked up the first things he saw on his bedroom floor that morning, but his jewelry is all really nice. He has money. “You’ll forgive me, right?” The guy pouts exaggeratedly, his handsome face taking on a surprisingly cute look.

Bambam pulls himself together. _Play along_ , he had said. He’s still not entirely sure what’s going on, but better a fake boyfriend who’s apparently buying him dinner—and whose warm hand had felt really nice around Bambam’s—than a real date who couldn’t even be bothered to text him. “I guess,” he says, feigning reluctance. “If you’ll buy me dessert, too.”

“You can have two,” he promises.

The waitress bustles over, smiling brilliantly at Bambam, then aiming a significantly colder glance at his companion before taking their order. Bambam’s date spins some story about an impossible to please boss and an ill coworker until both his listeners are laughing and the waitress isn’t eyeing him dubiously anymore, like she’s wondering if he really deserves a second chance after making Bambam wait; she even pats him on the shoulder as she assures them their food will be ready soon.

As soon as she’s out of earshot, the guy leans forward, lowering his voice again. “I’m Jackson,” he says.

“I’m Bambam,” he replies automatically. Then he adds, “Why are you doing this?”

“Being stood up sucks,” Jackson says. Bambam flinches—the words sound so much starker out loud. “You looked really sad, so I figured I’d do something about it.” 

Normally Bambam would bristle at yet another person feeling sorry for him, but Jackson doesn’t say it with pity at all. He’d just sounded matter-of-fact. Before Bambam can even think about how to react, Jackson grins and adds, “Plus, you’re too hot to just go home.”

Well, Bambam thinks, sitting up a little straighter, _that’s_ what he wants to hear. “You don’t have a real boyfriend I need to worry about, do you?” he asks.

“Nope, I’m single,” Jackson assures him promptly. “What about you, who were you meeting?” Bambam’s phone vibrates yet again, probably Yugyeom wondering about his sudden silence, and Jackson glances down at it.

“That’s just my best friend, I’ve been texting him,” Bambam quickly says. “I was just here for a random date. I’m not with anyone.”

Jackson’s smile widens. Under the table, his foot brushes against Bambam’s. Bambam doesn’t pull away. “Good to know.”

 

 

 

 

 

Once Bambam sends Yugyeom a quick text reassuring him that his plans are back on and he’ll be home later, he puts his phone on silent and focuses on Jackson. Even though they’ve just met, they end up talking so much and so easily that by the end of the date Bambam feels like he’s known Jackson for a long time.

Food devoured and bill paid—Jackson insists on paying for Bambam, too, and Bambam doesn’t argue—he follows Jackson out of the restaurant, smiling helplessly when Jackson holds the door for him. “Thanks, again,” Bambam tells him.

Jackson shrugs. “You, too. This was fun. Even if you’re too tall.”

Bambam snickers, remembering the double-takes they’d both done when they’d stood up. Neither of them had been expecting the height difference at all, and even factoring the two-inch heels of Bambam’s boots into account, it had been notable. But for all of Jackson’s ensuing complaints about his own lack of height being his complex, he hadn’t actually seemed to mind. “Maybe you’re too short.”

They both nudge each other until somehow Jackson ends up slipping his arm through Bambam’s, Bambam immediately leaning against him. “Which way’s your car?” Jackson asks. “I’ll walk you.”

“Okay.” They smile at each other before Bambam asks, “Hey, can I have your number?”

Jackson promptly gets out his phone, then pulls it just out of Bambam’s reach as Bambam extends his hand to take it. “Only if you’re gonna use it,” he says. “Like, later tonight.”

“I _guess_ ,” Bambam says, his feigned reluctance spoiled as he laughs. “Only if you’re gonna ask me out again. Like, right now.”

Jackson’s smile is so warm. _Yeah_ , Bambam thinks a little giddily, _I could get used to this_.

Before he hands his own phone over, he uses it just long enough to delete his failed date’s messages and number.

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as Bambam’s behind the wheel of his car, quickly waving good-bye to Jackson as he walks away, he calls Yugyeom. “I’m on my way home,” he says as he starts the engine. “I wasn’t axe murdered.”

“Okay, good,” Yugyeom says. “Why was he so late, anyway?”

“Oh, he never came,” Bambam says breezily. “I had dinner with Jackson.”

“ _What_? Who’s Jackson?”

Bambam grins. “I’ll tell you everything when I get home.”

**Author's Note:**

> This should have gone up with the other GOT7 fics yesterday, but since it’s listed last amongst the GOT7 fics on my spreadsheet my eyes read it as being part of the Other category instead. I apologize for the mixup! '
> 
> This was inspired by [this prompt](http://danger-days-of-our-lives.tumblr.com/post/126146422089/likehemmins-imagine-that-youve-been-stood-up).


End file.
